Contents

Summary

With hell firmly in his rearview, Roman Reigns is now one step closer to the promised land. Reigns blasted by Kofi Kingston to earn his spot in a Fatal 4-Way Match to determine the No. 1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The Big Dog opened Raw with a deafening statement to anyone who thought he’d be unable to recapture the lightning that catapulted him to the main event of WrestleMania 31.

Due to the stipulations of the evening — each potential Fatal 4-Way entrant had to have won at Hell in a Cell — Reigns faced stiff competition from The New Day member, who rode a diversion from Big E to a near-insurmountable lead in the late goings. A gritty comeback from Reigns led Kingston to go wild with Trouble in Paradise, but Reigns ducked the boot and Speared his way to the main event. Do you still believe?

Also bound for that fateful Fatal 4-Way? Kevin Owens. But this was a tougher fight than Owens is used to. His opponent, Cesaro, was a house on fire during Hell in a Cell Kickoff and rolled into Raw with all the momentum in the world, opening up the entirety of his offense to keep the Intercontinental Champion at bay. KO was ready to take a hike after the Uppercut Express knocked him silly, but The King of Swing was more interested in an outright pin. That ultimately cost him, as Owens clung to the ropes to stop Cesaro’s momentum, then sprang with a superkick and the Pop-up Powerbomb to eke out a win.

PCB is no more. For real this time, it seems, as Paige’s iffy reconciliation with Charlotte and Becky Lynch reached its breaking point after The Lass Kicker was felled by Team Bella in a Six-Diva tussle on Raw. Never mind that Paige was on the receiving end of a shellacking from Nikki & Co. and needed Charlotte and Becky to pull her out of the fire. Once a rolling Lynch — spurred on by “We want Becky!” chants — was stopped short by a forearm and a Rack Attack, Paige showed her true colors by laying out her now-former friends with a pair of Ram-Paiges and, as the final insult, a PTO to Charlotte.

The Alberto Del Rio return tour rolls on. After his triumphant resurgence at Hell in a Cell, the new United States Champion set his sights toward a fifth WWE World Heavyweight Title by taking out Neville, the scorer of the deciding pinfall at Hell in a Cell Kickoff, to earn a spot in Raw's Fatal 4-Way main event. If the match is any indication, The Pride of Mexico (MexAmerica?) is on pace to, once again, become a big deal fairly quickly. Initially unaccustomed to The Man That Gravity forgot, Del Rio adapted in short order by zeroing in on Neville’s lower back. The pulverizing attack didn’t quite ground the former NXT Champion, but it slowed him down enough that The Essence of Excellence was able to trap Neville in the Tree of Woe and finish the bout with a top-rope double-stomp to the sternum. Is that … destiny in the air?

There might be something to this international coalition of pain that Rusev, Sheamus & King Barrett have cooked up. Not only have the foreign menaces dispatched of Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro & Neville, but they also rebounded from a disappointing showing at Hell in a Cell Kickoff to roll over Ryback & The Dudleys on Raw in a battle of the collective losers from Hell in a Cell.

Last night wasn’t just about the vindication for The One in 22-1 — The Two in 22-1 was sitting pretty when all was said and done as well. Seven months after Bray Wyatt’s failed bid to topple The Undertaker, The Eater of Worlds and his reformed Family got the last word on The Last Outlaw when they dismantled a beaten Undertaker and carried him away into the darkness.

Raw then was all about their vindication, as Wyatt eulogized The Deadman until Kane, in all his demonic glory, exploded onto the scene with vengeance on his mind. But the rest of The Wyatts followed suit. Although Kane got his shots in, it ended the same way as the first time The Devil’s Favorite Demon tussled with The Wyatts: with Kane carried away into the darkness by The New Face of Fear, this time toward the same dark place where his brother now resides.

Maybe The New Day are one of those teams who have it better in hell. After powering past The Dudleys with one man down on Raw, both Kofi Kingston and Big E found themselves on the losing end on Raw. The latter joined Kingston in the loser’s column when Dolph Ziggler showed him up to earn his spot in Raw’s main event.

With newly emerged rival Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae watching (scouting?) The Showoff from their personal VIP section, Ziggler mounted a grueling defensive campaign against Big E. Ziggler wore him down bit by bit and held on just enough to stay in it (ironically, it was only when Big E partook of Breeze’s spread that Ziggler found some daylight). A missed corner charge sent the big unicorn barreling into the ring post, and Ziggler seized the moment with a Zig Zag to win his way into the main event.

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, former WWE Tag Team Champion and noted humanitarian Titus O’Neil led the WWE roster in a final celebration of WWE and Susan G. Komen’s combined efforts to rise above cancer over the last month. Flanked by breast cancer survivors, O’Neil spoke of the importance of hope and community in winning the fight against breast cancer, and thanked the WWE Universe for their efforts before joining in a victorious million-dollar dance with survivors, Superstars and Divas alike.

Believe this: Roman Reigns, who was defeated in the main event of WrestleMania only seven months ago, is just one match away from becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion. And he didn’t exactly waltz into the spot, either. The Fatal 4-Way that earned Reigns a match against Seth Rollins had all the carnage of a car wreck, and everyone involved was on their A-game.

Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio teamed up to bully Dolph Ziggler before turning on each other. Del Rio whiffed on his running enzuigiri and ate a Famouser from Ziggler in response. A combo of KO’s cannonball and Reigns' Drive-By took Del Rio out. You get the idea. Victory was determined by a matter of inches, and Reigns crossed the plane in the one-on-one finale by reversing Owens’ Pop-up Powerbomb into a Superman Punch. One Spear and three counts later, and Reigns-Rollins was made. Raw went off the air with Reigns in Rollins’ face, title within reach and Rollins looking, for all the world, like he’d rather be facing anyone but him.